You and I have often discussed the importance of getting young children to fall in love with books.
Writing in The Spectator Australia Peter Swan has celebrated the role that Enid Blyton has played in this—and the stupidity of librarians and other cultural gatekeepers who have banned (and still ban!) her books.
As Peter points out, such bans don’t work because kids still love her books.
Our now adult son was ‘turned on’ to reading by her Secret Seven books when he was a small boy.
And I have just finished reading through all 15 of those Secret Seven books with my grandson, who is now seven years old.
He loved every moment of them—the mysteries, the adventures and the scrummy feasts in their clubhouse.
These books (like all the Enid Blyton books—and she wrote more than 600!) delight children by welcoming them into a warm, imaginative world where things always turn out right in the end.
Peter Swan writes: ‘Blyton gave children what modern critics despise and children crave—hope.’
Children, he writes, ‘do not want to be hectored by little sermonettes disguised as fiction. They want a story.’
And gripping stories is what Blyton delivered—and still delivers to 21st century children.
From the Famous Five to The Magic Faraway Tree to The Wishing Chair hers is a world that children love to enter and dwell in for a while in their imaginations.
Peter Swan points out how stupid (and ineffective) the bans on Blyton have been over the years and concludes: ‘Children are not a branch office of the progressive state… Enid Blyton understood that. Her enemies still do not. That is why she won. That is why she keeps winning.’
By the way, my seven-year-old grandson and I have moved on to reading her Five Find Outers books—where the plots are more complex and the clues more challenging, and his little brain is following every twist and turn.
It’s very good for him! But… but… but… new research from HarperCollins UK has found that the number of parents reading aloud to children is at an all-time low.
That is a tragedy!
The latest edition of The Spectator Australia is in newsagents now -- with a cartoon of the Albanese cabinet as pigs with their snouts in the trough on the front cover, and my 'Language' column in the back. Packed with great reading!
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BOOKS:
* My latest book is called Pray Like This. To look at prayer I do what I do in these Ozword columns: I go through the most famous prayer in the world (The Lord’s Prayer, also known as the Our Father) and unpack it word by word—each chapter being a short word-study on a key word in that prayer. There is a total of 21 words studies in all. To find out more, here’s a link to the publisher’s website (where you can buy a copy if you wish): Pray Like This – matthiasmedia.com.au
* My book is Sherlock Holmes: 5-Minute Mysteries -- containing 50 new stories I have written about the great detective. You can find it on Amazon. Just go to Amazon and type in Sherlock Holmes: 5-Minute Mysteries in the search panel. Or use this link: h Amazon.com.au : Sherlock Holmes 5-Minute Mysteries Kel Richards
* My book "Defending the Gospel" is now in a second, fully revised, edition. You can find it here: Defending the Gospel – matthiasmedia.com.au
* If you're looking for my recent book "Flash Jim" you'll find it here -- Flash Jim, The astonis
hing story of the convict fraudster who wrote Australia's first dictionary by Kel Richards | 9781460759769 | Booktopia
* You can find all Kel's books currently in print here -- Booktopia Search Results for 'kel richards'. We sell books, hardback, paperback, audio, CDs.
* And also here -- Amazon.com.au : Kel Richards
* And you'll find more here -- Search: 4 results found for "Kel Richards" – matthiasmedia.com.au
* Many of Kel's out of print books can be found at ABE Books -- Kel Richards - AbeBooks explaining words explain the term
BY THE WAY...
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
The liveliest part of this website is usually the Q and A page -- be sure to check it out from time to time.
